Athens Nature Journal: 2017

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Streams of Mount Ochi Expedition 2017 (Part 2)

15-17 October, 2017

Of course I have talked a lot about Mount Ochi on Evia Island.

Every naturalist living in Athens should know of its natural wonders, its rich mountain wilds, traditional hamlets, rugged coasts - altogether an extravaganza for biodiversity research. Unlike the typical limestone mountains around Athens and the western Aegean, Mount Ochi is distinctive for its geology and abundant waters. There are ten major and several minor streams radiating out of the fortress-like mountain. Each small stream is different, each has many kilometers of perennial stream flow. Streams flow even in the low-flow conditions of early Autumn. Surface water, lotic and lentic habitats such as these are extremely scarce in the Aegean islands.

This is the final trail of an expedition we chose to complete 10 years after our first survey on the mountain (back in June 2007). We collected macrozoobenthic invertebrates, water samples, river conditions, vegetation and landscape assessment.

First day. The four member team arrived early via the Rafina-Marmari ferry. First we worked the ravines of the north face of the mountain beginning at the wild Vathirema valley near Schizali and progressed back towards Karystos (Schizali, Komito, Antia, Potami, Platanistos). A fine day, wonderful and powerful landscapes: stark browns, tan greens in the Aegean light. Below us half of the Aegean sea. We scrambled over huge torrent rock ravines at Komito and walked among the rock-pool dominated Antia stream. We found a wonderful rock gorge in the lower part of Antia with Alder riparian scrub - the only other site we know with Alder here is on the Platanistos river. We found a single otter scat at Potami, Platanistos river (a first records, after many rumours). At dusk, we marvelled at the surreal wonder of the waterfall near Platanistos village.

Second day we went to the springs of the Dimosaris in the mountain's heart. Huge oriental planes, branches pruned by the strong cold wind. We stopped near the springs of the upper part of the Porphyras (last few yellow-bellied toads before hybernation...). And then down the Porphyras valley (Rouklia, Agios Dimitrios, Schinodavlia beach). We ended up going way east to the Gialpides valley- and back in to the Dimosaris (Lenosei, Stefides). The village of Lenosei, now half abandoned was like stepping back in time: crumbling rock houses, curious horses, sheep dogs, many goats everywhere. The Stefides tributary was ripped up by a huge torrential flood two years ago and the riverbed and razed riparian zone have totally changed (as is the case futher downstream on the main stem of the Dimosaris). This taught us the formational power of floods in these streams.

Third day was in the Lala river basin with stops at Lala river mouth, the adjacent Rigia river mouth and the spring of Lala. Lots of Otter scat at the Lala river mouth (how do they survive?). At the Lala spring river waters were low but the beauty of the place, unchanged. A last impression of a natural Mediterranean stream environment.

Our research trip was supported by South Evia Tours and the accommodation was exceptional at the wonderful Aegea Hotel at Aetos. We thank Nikos Lagonikos and the Society for the Protection of the Environment of Notia Karystia (SPENK) for all support in our venture. Please read more about the society at : http://ochi.gr/

View up the Archampoli Valley to Kapsouri and Mount Kerasia.

Vathyrema near Schizali.

Komito river.

Komito river boulder climbing.

Antia river rock pools.

Antia river rock pools, coloured by Euplagia quadripunctaria - the Jersy Tiger, a protected moth species known in Greece as the "Rhodes Butterfly".

Antia river, drone-flight near village.

Antia river rock pools.

Antia river, downstream.

Antia river, downstream: Alnus glutinosa!

Potami river mouth.

Water fall at Platanistos.

Near Dimosaris spring. Judas peak rising above.

Near Dimosaris spring.

Petrokanalo pools, near one of the highest perennial springs.

Rouklia.

Agios Dimitrios, Porfyras stream valley.

Agios Dimitrios, Porfyras stream valley: Laurus nobilis.

Agios Dimitrios, Porfyras stream valley.

Agios Dimitrios Gorge.

Schinodavlia and the Porphyras river mouth (HCMR Drone photo/ Elias Dimitriou).

Agios Dimitrios Gorge: Skinodavlia beach.

Flying the drone.

Porphyras river near river mouth.

Dimosaris Gorge.

Gialpides stream pools.

Gialpides stream.

Gialpides Ravine.

Dimosaris at Lenosei village.

Lenosei village.

Lala stream river mouth.

Rigia.

Lala stream near its springs.

Tools of the trade.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

New spirlin species in Greece: Alburnoides economoui (Spercheios spirlin)

Spercheios spirlin in late Spring (sporting reproductive colours) - Photo by D. Koutsogiannopoulos.

Oct 25th 2017

The Spercheios river was known to be important for biodiversity since Alexander Stephanidis collected fishes there. A crossroads between the dry and biogeographically isolated Western Aegean river basins and the species-rich North (Macedonia-Thessaly Ecoregion). Stephanidis described a new 'subspecies' of Sprilin from here and from the adjacent Thessalian Pinios (Alburnoides spp thessalicus he called them both). He did not see morphological differences between the two rivers' fishes - their morphological differences are quite microscopic (he published in 1950...). What he could not know at the time is that these similar-looking fishes are so different...genetically.

Despite very similar overall looks, when compared to other European Alburnoides species the spirlins from the Spercheios differ remarkably at the genetic level from all other spirlin species. Genetic divergence to other spirlin species ranges from 7.3 to 8.8% (based on cytochrome b nucleotide sequences). An outstanding difference.

In our recent paper in Biologia we described the species from Sperchios as new to science: Alburnoides economoui. We also redefine the spirlin species of the Macedonia-Thessaly Freshwater Ecoregion as Alburnoides thessalicus (Stephanidis 1950)- Thessalian spirlin. This presumably includes fishes of the Axios / Vardar, also within FYR Macedonia (so the Thessalian fishes are not exclusive endemic to Greece). Morphologically there are really only very slight differences and a lot of "character overlap" (various specific body part sizes and shapes show variation). Spercheios spirlin has a near complete scale-less keel and a slightly humped distinction behind the head, and some other minute character traits - all need expert measurment to distinguised the species. The identification traits show quite well in adults, not usually in young fishes.

Finally, our paper shows that more work is needed to complete the naming of Greece's fishes (problems in the Epirus/Albanian spirlins persist). Also we show for the first time that Alburnoides bipunctatus (the European spirlin), the species' nominate race of the Danube, really does not exist in Greece.

Why did we name it A. economoui?

We thought of various names. For example, Leonidas, the famous Spartan who fought the Persians near the Sperchios river in 480 BC. But Alcibiades N. Economou soon came unanimously to mind... A man who has done so much for Greek ichthyology and for river conservation and for the Spercheios, he should be remembered. Alcibiades N. Economou, known as Alkis to friends, is one of the most important marine Ichthyologists to have worked in freshwater fish conservation in Greece... Since the mid '90s he helped catalogue and explore inland waters for fishes. One of the most important works he and Roberta Barbieri (et al.) did was an inventory of all water bodies in the Peloponnese and the West of Greece (Economou et al. 1999); this is a remarkable unpublished report providing amazing data on the natural history of Greece's endemics. Alkis also worked hard for the Sperchios basin biodiversity since the late '90s (with another intrepid explorer, Dr. Charalambos Daoulas). They made the Sperchios famous for its rare fishes - especially focusing on the Greek Stickleback (in fact they did the first conservation translocation of a population of sticklebacks that was successful). Alkis's research style is deep, long-term and holistically inquisitive. He has been concerned with biological conservation since his marine work (since the late '70s); and especially his freshwater career has helped many of us in Greece focus on the conservation relevance of our work. For me, Alkis has been especially important in helping Greece develop in the application of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), especially scientific aspects of "reference conditions" as outlined in one of his seminal reports (Economou 2003). During the last 15 years he has spearheaded important fish-based techniques for WFD R&D in Greece (e.g. Economou et al. 2016). This includes no less than 7 attempts at bioassessment index building and the recent successful intercallibration of our model-based index (Tachos et al. 2016; Zogaris et al.- in review). Alkis is a deeply collaborative person and has worked with almost all Greek inland water ichthyologists, especially during the important projects to assess the conservation status of Greece's fishes and the publication of our first river basin species lists (Economou et al. 2007) and our recent annotated fish list (Barbieri et al. 2015). He also was the first Director of our new institute amalgam during hard times in the beginning of the recent Greek Crisis. He is an exemplary leader.

Please read our paper:

Alburnoides_economoui_a_new_species_of_spirlin_from_Central_Greece_and_redescription_of_Alburnoides_thessalicus

(For references in the text above see our freshwater fish checklist, Barbieri et al. 2015)

Spercheios Spirlin, Male, (original holotype specimen, photographed at HCMR lab) - Photo by R. Barbieri.

Thessalian Spirlin, Male, (fresher specimen, photographed at HCMR lab) - Photo by R. Barbieri.

Geographical distribution of the Alburnoides species in Greece. A: A. strymonicus (Strymon spirlin); B: A. thessalicus (Thessalian sprilin); C: A. prespensis (Prespa spirlin); D: A. prespensis complex (Prespa spirlin species complex); E: A. economoui sp. n. (Spercheios spirlin).

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Sweet Tirana

Tirana!

19th and 20th of October, Tirana and Elbasan

I enjoyed Albania. Just posting a few sloppy photos - I have many more but no time to post creatively. Albania is interesting and underrated. Visit - you will really enjoy.

(In Tirana stay at the Antigone Hotel)